The Bloomington Herald Times reports 24-year-old Eddie Uyesugi of Paoli, who was once valedictorian for his class at Paoli High School, rejected a plea deal relating to an August 2007 arrest in which he allegedly confined and battered an autistic teenager during a supposed exorcism.

Uyesugi is facing felony charges of battery and criminal confinement in the incident that resulted in the injury of the 14-year-old boy.

The paper says the young man was a senior at IU with designs on heading to med school, and was also a minister in training at Cherry Hill Church in Bloomington.

Uyesugi allegedly beat and choked the teenager causing bruising and swelling during the reputed exorcism that investigators say lasted several hours.